WHILE it was another weekend off for Ayr’s men and Ayr Ladies had a well-earned rest after their heroics last Sunday, there was plenty of pink and black representation away from the BT Premiership and various national cups. writes Elena Hogarth.

On Friday evening at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld, Ayr’s young hooker Lewis Anderson was involved in the Scotland U20 team's historic 24-6 win against England, coming on as a replacement.

On Sunday, Ayr U18s player Robbie Smith was in the Scotland U18s squad of home-based players who beat a team of young exiled Scots 29-0.

Ayr Ladies’ talented youngsters Catherine Shennan, Kelsey Swift and Phoebe McDowall have been in camp with Scotland Women U20s and were part of a friendly fixture with RAF Ladies, which the Scots won 25-5.

Gavin Lowe, who has been playing senior rugby for Ayr since he was a teenager, has been on duty with Scotland 7s all season and although it’s been a bit of a slog going up against the flashier teams who excel at the abbreviated form of the sport, Lowe has impressed. After last week’s Wellington 7s, his try-scoring exploits saw him ranked sixth for overall performance in the World Series.

And, of course, of those who once wore an Ayr jersey, the most famous faces in action at the weekend were Mark Bennett, Finn Russell and Gordon Reid, who all took to the pitch at Murrayfield for Scotland’s defeat in the Calcutta Cup.

Sadly, it was a tough afternoon for the former Millbrae men and their international team-mates, so no chance of seeing Bennett and Russell turn on the style or Reid rumble over the try-line.

Ayr’s men 1st XV have their next match on Saturday, February 20, when they again travel to Bridgehaugh to take on Stirling County, but this time in the third round of the BT Cup.

Although they have beaten County twice in the league already this season – running in nine tries at Millbrae in September – the cup is always an entirely different beast.

Ayr have a great record, with three cup wins from four finals, but in the last couple of years they have exited the competition at the quarter-final stage against teams they have had good wins against in the league. Nobody will be underestimating the threat of County.

The 2nd XV welcome their Edinburgh Accies counterparts this Saturday in a rearranged reserve league match, whilst the U16s will hopefully get their National Youth Cup semi-final against Boroughmuir played on Sunday after a waterlogged pitch in Edinburgh caused its postponement last weekend.